"No," Maddie said firmly, "Going to shore is not an option. It's too dangerous."
"Maddie," Travis murmured, touching her arm, "Hear them out."
"There's first aid kits," I said, instantly grabbing Daniel's attention, "A fair few and clothes. Maddie, there is no way way we can survive on just the clothes we have. It makes sense. Besides, the boat's stopped and probably will be for a good few hours."
"You are not going," she repeated, "Now drop it."
"The girl is right,"
I stared at Daniel with wide eyes. Did he just agree with me?
"Ofelia's arm. Her wound is infected and she needs medicine." he went on to say.
"There's a good chance that what she needs is on the beach," Nick murmured, "I'll help you find what you need."
"Alicia and I can gather up any clothes that we find," I offered, looking at Maddie again, "You know that it's a good idea."
"I'm going to help too, dad." Chris told his father, who nodded, for once not arguing.
Maddie looked at Daniel, "You stay with them at all times. Do not let them out of your sight."
"Understood."
"Okay," she nodded, "You can go."
Nick and Chris rushed outside onto the deck to get the Zodiac ready for us while I ran downstairs to get Alicia and some bags so we could put the clothes in.
"Alicia," I called, tapping on the door that she was behind, "Alicia, come on! We're going to shore."
"What?" she asked, the door opening as I made my way down the corridor to our small room, "What do you mean?"
"Something crashed on the shore. We're going to take a look and see if there's anything we can use."
"And mom's letting us do that?"
"It took a little convincing," I smiled, "But yes. We're doing it."
When I emerged back onto the deck, the first thing I saw was that Nick was talking to Ofelia. Now normally, that didn't bother but what was bothering me -just a little- was how her hand was lingering on his arm, where it stayed until they finished their conversation.
Now, don't get me wrong, I had never seen her do anything like that any other times they had been conversing and it was probably totally innocent but still, it made me a little nervous.
"Taylor?" Nick asked as he reached me, placing his hand on my cheek when I didn't answer, "Tay?"
I finally looked up at him, giving him a smile.
"You good?"
"Sure," I nodded, "Sorry, I was in a whole other world."
"Yeah? Well snap out of it, Beautiful." he grinned, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as he held up a list, "We've got a lot of shit to find."
I gave him another smile before turning my head to look back at Ofelia, who was now watching us with a weird expression on her face.
**
I gripped the sides of the Zodiac tightly as it charged through the choppy waters to reach the beach.
I could see both Chris and Alicia watching me carefully, amusement clear on their faces.
"I want you all to listen carefully," Daniel said loudly over the engine, "We stay together. Nobody goes wandering off on their own. We stay together. We don't know what else is on this beach."
"Nobody could have survived that, right?" Alicia asked and I looked out onto the water, remembering what the two military men had told me in that compound.
We all come back. No matter what.
But surely everyone here knows that, right?
"Guys-"
"Brace yourselves," Daniel interrupted, "We're coming up for land."
After pulling the boat up so it didn't get caught by the tide, we climbed up the grassy embankment to where the wreckage started.
"Oh god," I breathed, spotting two charred bodies on the sand.
"Okay," Daniel muttered, "Let's be quick. We'll fill our bags and we go. Everyone where I can see them at all times."
Nick led his sister and me further up the slope to where there was a large pile of bags and I silently sat down next to them, tugging a red one open.
As I was shoving shirts into my bag, Nick wandered over with his own case, placing a sunhat on Alicia's head with a smile on his face.
She held up a smart looking white shirt with gold and black lapels on it, I think it was a pilot's shirt and I gestured to her brother, grinning when she threw it at him.
After holding it up against himself, he pulled it on, giving us a turn once he had buttoned it up, "What do we think?"
Alicia started to laugh, making me frown, "Hey. I think he looks really smart."
"You're just saying that because you're his girlfriend!" she cackled and I threw a pair of socks at her.
"I am not," I defended, looking back up at him, "I really do like it."
"That," Nick said quietly, putting some sunglasses on me, "Is because she's always had a thing for men in a uniform. Remember that nigh-"
"Nick!" I cried, smacking his arm as my face started to flush red, "Shut up!"
He gave me a kiss on the forehead before mumbling something about Daniel.
"So..." Alicia trailed off, making me look at her, "Uniform, huh?"
I shoved the remainder of my stuff into the bag, giving her a glare as I stood up, "Shut up!"
**
After searching all the bags that were near me, I stood up and searched, my eyes scanning the surrounding area for Nick.
Alicia was off trying to find Chris with Daniel and I spotted the young man in question kneeling on the sand a few feet away, digging around in a briefcase looking thing but he stood up as I approached.
I was confused when he headed in the opposite direction from me, towards the edge of the cliff but then I heard it; the growling.
"Do you see it?" I asked when I reached the case.
"Yeah," he replied without looking at me, "Come see it. He's stuck from the waist down."
"No thanks." I muttered, packing away the last of the pills that were in the case which he was most likely collecting for Ofelia and once I was done, I looked up and found that Nick was gone and I felt my heart leap into my throat when I heard that the growling intensify.
"Nick?" I said worriedly, taking a timid step forward, "Nick?" I dropped the bag and rushed to the edge, seeing him lying at the bottom with the infected on top of him trying to bite him. I watched as he struggled with the thing and grab something from his pocket. Seconds later, the thing was still.
"Nick?" I called again quietly, taking another step closer to the edge, "Please tell me you're okay?"
"I'm fine," I heard him say breathlessly, "Just don't come too close to the edge. It-"
I let out a shriek as the ground crumbled beneath my feet, my body rolling down the steep slope and hitting a few jagged rocks before I came to a stop.
"It's not stable." Nick finished as I let out a groan, "Are you hurt?"
"No," I said slowly, cautiously moving to check I hadn't injured myself, "I'm good."
"Good." he repeated, still breathing heavily and the two of us started laughing.
"Oh god," I whispered after we calmed down and I pushed myself up, "I think there will be a bruise though."
"Yeah, most likely." he muttered, helping me when I tried to move the corpse from him but just as he was free, we looked up when we heard more growling heading our way.
Not even five seconds later, another infected toppled over the edge, landing in front of us.
"Get back," Nick whispered, pushing me behind him and I did what he said, peeking over his shoulder at it when it began advancing on us.
I watched as he readied the knife again, letting out a quiet exhale before he lunged at it, sticking the knife straight into the middle of it's forehead.
The two of us jumped when we heard gunshots coming from where we had come from.
What else is going wrong?